Portugal

Background

Portugal became a state participant of the African Development Fund in May 1982 and a member of the Bank in December 1983. Portugal has contributed to the Fund’s successive replenishments for a cumulative amount of UA 114.37 million. Regarding the recently concluded ADF-XI replenishment, Portugal pledged UA 29.62 million.

Through its Office for Strategic Planning, Economic Policy and International Affairs, the Portuguese Ministry of Finance and Public Administration is the focal point for relations with the Bank Group.

Portugal’s sectoral and thematic priorities for Africa derive from its policy on international development cooperation and it is linked to comparative advantages (e.g. language, culture and similar legal and institutional frameworks) in Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOPs): Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé & Príncipe. Poverty reduction and institutional capacity building remain major goals in Portuguese bilateral cooperation with the Bank, with priorities being given to the promotion of wider access to development services, and the mainstreaming of the Portuguese language in the Bank operations.

Joint Initiatives

  • Portugal contributes to the debt relief of the poorest countries under the Enhanced Heavily
  • Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief (MDRI) initiatives, with a total of 13.66 million euros (0.69%) allocated to Mozambique HIPCs and an estimated 67.21 millions euros (1.08%) to the MDRI.
  • Portugal has provided various forms of bilateral support to the Bank’s institutional capacity building efforts, including targeted training programmes and translation of main documents such as the Bank´s Annual Reports into Portuguese.
  • Portugal and the Bank also collaborated in a special internship programme, whereby nine Portuguese young professionals were seconded to the Bank between 2004 and 2008.

Formal agreements and financial contributions

  • Portugal’s bilateral cooperation with the Bank began in 1985 with the signing in March 1985 of a Technical Cooperation Agreement followed in August 1987 by an Execution Agreement establishing a tied 279 million escudos Technical Cooperation Fund for which the Bank did not have fiduciary responsibility.
  • From 1987 to December 2008, Portugal has funded 25 projects for a total of EUR 5.217 million. Beneficiary countries are Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Morocco, and Mozambique in Agriculture, Energy, Governance, Human resources development, Health, and Science and technology, Infrastructure, Microfinance, Public Policy, Training, and Portuguese translation.
  • The Portuguese government and the Bank Group signed a new Technical Cooperation Agreement in December 2008, which established a €2 million Trust Fund for a period of five years.  This agreement integrates the Bank’s commitment to pursuit the MDB harmonization agenda. The new fund is 100% untied and the Bank will, for the first time, assume the fiduciary responsibility for the administration of the fund. The New Technical Cooperation Fund will finance consultancy services and technical assistance in priority areas identified under the Bank’s Medium-Term Strategy, notably i) private sector development; ii) infrastructure; iii) renewable energy and energy efficiency; iv) good governance and capacity building; v) agriculture; and vi) water. It will also be of great use to enhance the Bank’s operations in Portuguese-speaking countries and to improve the Portuguese language capacity of the Bank.

Focal point for the AfDB-Portuguese cooperation

Khadidia Emilie Diabi
Principal Cooperation Officer
Partnerships and Cooperation Unit (ORRU)
Email: k.diabi@afdb.org
Phone: (216) 71 10 3002

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